Ripple is expanding its global reach, initiating new payment corridors between 27 African nations and Australia, the UK, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This move is part of a strategic partnership with Onafriq, a pan-African fintech company. Ripple's blockchain mechanism will be utilized to facilitate these transactions, working in conjunction with Zazi Transfer for Australia, PayAngel for the UK, and Pyypl for GCC countries.
Aaron Sears, Ripple's Senior VP of Global Customer Success, emphasized the significance of remittances in cross-border payments, particularly to crypto-adopting nations such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. Both Pyypl and Onafriq have adopted Ripple's On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution to streamline these transactions.
Onafriq, formerly known as MFS Africa, rebranded after acquiring Global Technology Partners in 2022. The company had previously collaborated with Western Union (NYSE:WU) to facilitate cross-border transactions.
The announcement was made at Ripple's Swell customer event in Dubai on Wednesday. At the same event, Ripple also revealed its transformation from RippleNet into Ripple Payments.
In addition to the partnership with Onafriq, Ripple announced several product enhancements and license updates at its Swell conference. These developments are designed to facilitate payments between large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Ripple has been collecting various licenses recently, including money transmitter licenses in the U.S., an institutional payments license in Singapore, and recent filings in both the U.K. and EU.
Monica Long, Ripple's president, indicated that this expansion would allow Ripple payments to cover 90% of foreign exchange markets. The native cryptocurrency of Ripple, XRP, experienced a price increase following approval by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and due to Ripple's involvement in a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project with the National Bank of Georgia.
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